Safety device for railraod-cars.



om 0 9 1 1 1 G U A D S 6 3 w 5 9 00 m N APPLICATION FILED AUG. 19, 1907. RENEWED MAR. 19, 1908- 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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SAFETY DEVICE FOR RAILROAD CARS. APPLICATION FILED AUG.19, 1907. RENEWED MAR. 19, 1908.

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JAMESST. ANDREW, 0F MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA.

SAFETY DEVICE FOR RAILROAD-CARS.

No. 895,936. I

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented na i1, 1908.

Application filed August 19, 1907, Serial No. 389,205. Renewed March 19, 1908. Serial No. '&22,087.

To all whom it may concern."

citizen .of the United States, /residing at in the county of Montgomery and State'of Alabama, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety Devices for Railroad-Cars; and I do hereby declare'the following to be a full, clear, and

exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in safety devices for railroad cars, and the object of my invention is to provide means whereby derailment of a train, with the injurious effects resulting therefrom, shall be rendered practically impossible, this application being an improvement upon my former patent N 0. 844,288, dated February 12, 1907, my former application Serial No. 349,727, dated December 27, 1906, and'my former application Serial N 0. 362,97 5, dated March 18, 1907, and allowed April 16, 1907.

My invention is applicable not only to all railroad cars, but also to electric cars of all descriptions, and to locomotives.

With this object-in view my invention consists in the construction and combination of parts as hereinafter more fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this application Figure 1 represents a perspective view of a suitable truck showing my invention applied thereto, and also showing a part of the track. Fig. 2 represents an end view of the truck with my invention applied thereto, and showing the track in section. Fig. 3 represents a side viewof a portion of my invention intended to be applied to the Westinghouse air brake apparatus now carried by railroad cars, and Fig. 4 is a plan view of the same. Fig. 5 is an end view, partly in section, of the device shown in Figs. 3 and 4, and Fig. 6 shows a modified form of device for accomplishing the same purpose.

Like letters refer to like views. a

A represents the wheels, B the axles, C the journal boxes, and D the equalizer of any suitable car truck. Underneath the framework of this truck I provide two bars E, and firmly secure the same thereto. From these parts in all the bars E I support the'quarter wheels F in the manner and for the purposefully disclosed in my pending application No. 362,975, above referred to. These quarter wheels F are supported on each side of the truck, as clearly shown in Fig. 2, and upon each axle B inside of thewheels I support two additional wheels G. These wheels G are rigidly secured to the axle and are preferably removable therefrom as are the regular wheels A of the truck, but, of course, I may form. them integral with the axle, or for that matter may form them integral with the wheels "A. These wheels G are provided with an inclined tread H, which tread is much steeper, or more inclined than the tread of the wheels A, for a purpose to be described hereinafter. The quarter wheels F are provided with suitable springs J, as shown, which serve to automatically return them to normal position whenever the said quarter wheels are displaced therefrom, and

said quarter wheels are also provided with a tread K which is not so steep as the treads H, and is much broader than the same.

Referring to Figs. 3 to 6, 11 represents the usual air supply pipe of the-Vt estinghouse air brake system, M a valve controlling the same provided with the levers N, which levers have the connections 0 with the rods P carrying the pivoted levers Q adapted to contact with the safety wheels G, when the car is derailed, all as shown in Figs. 3-, 4, and 5. The rods P are suitably hung from the bottom of the car by the brackets R, as shown.

In the modification shown in Fig. 6, the levers N are provided with connections S joining the same to the levers T, suitably hung from the bottom of the car, as shown, and these levers T are in turn provided with the connections U joining the same with the tripping collars V. split, as shown, and one of-the same encircles each axle.

The operation of my device, is as follows Suppose the wheels A leave the track, say to the left, as seen in Fig. 2. As soon as the flange of the wheel A, on the left of said-figure,

These tripping collars are rises on top of the rail, the truck wilLbe tilted, and one of the levers Q, shown in Fig. 5,

will contact with one of the wheels G, or else I one of the collars V will bind against one of the axles of said truck. In either case, the

valve M of the air brake system will beeper-- ated, and the air brakes instantly applied to rail.

'tum to the left, the glancin It Will-be observed that, asabove stated,

' the treads of the wheels G are more inclined than the treads of the wheels A, and therefore,as soon as the wheel G, on the left of'Fig. 2 contacts with the rail, it will tend to slide off and to throw the train to the right. This will cause an action somewhat like a glancing blow. That is to say, in the case supposed,-

when .the whole train is urged by its momenblow, so to speak, of the wheel G, will ten to deflect the truck again to the rightand thereby tend to keep the truck upon the track This action is greatly aided by. the broad tread of thequarter wheel K, and also by the eculiar actionjandfunctio'nof said quarter w eel. That. is to say, as'soon as thesafety wheel Goontacts with the rail ontheleft of Fig. 2, the quarter wheel K contacts with-the rail'onthe right of Fig. 2, and since the Wheel"G onQ,the2

left is capable of turnin thatside of the car and truck is free to ro 1, while the quarterwheel must slide. The combinedaction, therefore, of the said wheel G and of the said quarter'wheel, serves to'powerfully counteract the direction in which the tram is beingderaile'd. In other words, that quarter Wheel K which happens to contact with the rail, serves as a kind of pivot, on which the derailed truck will turn, and the safety-wheel G serves as a kind of a roller to guide the truck around the pivoting quarter wheel, and thereby change the direction in which the derailment isoccurring. This whole action is greatly aided by the fact that the center of gravity of the stem is in a plane passing somewhere between the wheels A of the truck, and therefore it acts with a leverage around the pivoting quarter wheel, thus tending powerfullyto throw the train back upon the track.

In actual practice, in over fifty trials, where full sized cars drawn by a full sized engine on a standard track and running at speeds varying from eight to fifty miles an hour were used, I have abundantly demonstrated that I can derail a trainby this device and'stop the same without destroying the cars or their equipment. In other words, I have used the same cars, and substantially the same safety device in at least fifty trials, all of which demonstrated the principles above set forth, to be sound in both theory and practice.

Of course, I do not desire to be limited to the exact details of construction herein disclosed, for the same may be varied by those skilled in the art Without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having now described my invention, what I claim is 1. In a safety appliance for cars and locomotives, the comblnation of a truck rovided with theusual wheels, means carrie thereby for automatically applying the brakes in case of accident, quarter-wheels carried by said truck on the outside of said usual wheels, and safety wheels on the inside of the same, wherebyupon derailment the brakes are at once applied, a sliding action is induced by said 'quarter wheels, and a rollin action by said safety wheels,- substantially as described;

2. In a safety appliance for cars and loco- ,motives, the combination of atruck carrying the, ordinary wheels and axles, a quarter Wheel carried by said truck outside of each of said wheels, a safety wheel carried by said axle inside each of said wheels, each of said .quarter wheels being provided with a tread broader than said ordinary wheels, and each of said safety wheels being rovided with a tread steeper, or more inc ined, than the treads of said ordinary wheels, and an auto matic means adapted to apply the brakes as soon as one of said ordinary wheels leave the track,substantially as described.

3. In a safety appliance; for cars and locomotives, the combination of a truck carrying the ordinary wheels and axles, a quarter wheel carried by said truck outside of each of said wheels, a safety wheel carried by said axle inside each of said wheels, each of said quarter wheels being provided with atread broader than said ordinary wheels, and each of said safety wheels being rovided with a tread steeper, or more inc ined, than the treads of said ordinary wheels, and an automatic means, consisting of a valve provided with levers N, of levers Q, of brackets R, susended from the car body, supportin said evers Q, and connections between saidIevers N and Q, adapted to apply the brakes as soon as one of sald ordinary wheels leaves the track, substantially as described.

4. In a safety appliance for cars and locomotives, the combination of a truck provided with the wheels A, the axles B, the journal boxes O, the equalizer D, the supporting bars E, the quarter wheels F supported from said bars E, outside of said wheels A, the safety Wheels G su ported on the axles B inside and levers Q adapted to be operated by said safety wheels, whereby when a wheel A leaves the track, one or more quarter wheels will slide along one rail, and one or more 5 safety wheels will roll along the other rail, Witnesses:

and thereby tend to throw the train back GEO/B. PITTs,

upon the track, substantially as described. I MARSHALL LOW.

in presence of two witnesses.

JAMES T. ANDREW.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature, 

